We
introduce this large and very controversial subject with statements
collated from various websites. You may not
agree with some of these comments and we do not necessarily subscribe to any of
them ourselves, but they are representative of the type of belief that is
being propounded and, as such, are deserving of attention.

Follow
the individual links for more
in-depth information on the quotes Links at the foot of this article
will take you to related or relevant sites that we hope will prove of interest.

Learning
difficulties can be either generalised or specific. .A child with generalised learning
difficulties is one that functions at a significantly lower level of
intellectual ability than their chronological age. This generally implies
an IQ below 70. He or she will find it a struggle to keep up in most
subjects with most other children in a mainstream school classroom. Specific
learning difficulties, in contrast, refer to a particular area that is difficult
for the child. For instance, a child with dyslexia finds reading, writing and/or
spelling difficult. A child with a language disorder may find it difficult to
understand what the teacher and other pupils say, or may find expressing
thoughts difficult. A child with a specific numeracy difficulty may struggle
with mathematics, but manage other parts of the curriculum easily.

A
learning disability is lifelong. It cannot be 'cured' or 'treated' but people
with a learning disability can achieve a lot with the right support. They will
have greater difficulty than their non-disabled peers in acquiring basic life
skills and may be dependent on others to a greater or lesser extent according to
their needs. They are likely to need specialist educational input but this is
often possible within mainstream school settings.

There
are many different causes of learning disability, some unknown. It's a lifelong
condition that starts at birth or shortly afterwards and limits intellectual
capacity. It may be caused by inherited factors such as Fragile X syndrome or
may be due to an injury during birth. Sometimes the supply of blood and
therefore oxygen to a baby's brain becomes restricted during birth and affects
the brain. Also, an illness such as meningitis or an accident may cause damage
to the brain.

Learning
disability may occur in isolation, together with other sensory or physical
impairment or as part of a recognisable genetic syndrome such as Down's
Syndrome. A genetic condition occurs as a result of a defect of certain
genes or chromosomes and is not necessarily inherited.

According
to the Government White Paper on people with Learning Disability, the
total number of people with a learning disability in the UK is about 1.2
million, with no significant difference between numbers of men and women
affected. People from all walks of life and ethnic background can be
affected and, unless they have a condition such as Down's Syndrome with its
characteristic facial features, it's not possible to tell from someone's
appearance whether they have a learning disability.

1.
Legal and civil rights:
People with learning disabilities have the right to a decent education, to
grow up, to vote, to marry, to have a family, to express opinions, with help
and support to do so where necessary.

2.
Independence:
The presumption should be of independence, rather than dependence, with
public services providing the support needed to maximise this.

3.
Choice:
Like other people, people with learning disabilities want a real say in
where they live, what work they should do and who looks after them.

4.
Inclusion: This means enabling people with learning
disabilities to do those ordinary things, make use of mainstream services and be
fully included in local communities.

The
word Dyslexia or "Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD)" comes from the
Greek meaning "difficulty with words or language". This is an
inadequate definition because it can show itself in many ways such as difficulty
in tying shoelaces, bad hand-writing, poor short-term memory (for example in
learning mathematics tables), mispronunciation of words, reversing of letters
(deg for beg) and sequencing (act instead of cat).

Some
of the famous people from history who achieved their success despite being
afflicted with dyslexia are Woodrow Wilson (President of the USA 1913-1921);
Hans Christian Anderson (Danish author of 168 fairy stories, including such
classics as The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid); Thomas Edison (the
inventor of the electric light bulb and many other inventions); Leonardo da
Vinci (another prolific inventor and artist, whose Mona Lisa is conceivably the
best-known of all paintings); and Albert Einstein who developed his Theory of
Relativity despite being unable to read until he was nine years old and failing
a college entrance exam.

Central
Auditory Processing Disorders (CAPDs) are often characterized by a child having
difficulty understanding speech or instructions in the presence of normal
hearing sensitivity. They usually are noticed when the child is in an atmosphere
of sensory overload. Too much is happening around the child and so the child
cannot "process" the same information that other children process.
This also can occur when the "redundancy" of the auditory information
is reduced: when speakers cannot be seen, when the normal frequency content of
speech is reduced, or especially when an ear infection produces a mild and
temporary hearing loss.

In
1998 a survey conducted by Jane Fitzgerald for joint publication by Values Into
Action and the Centre for Policy on Ageing determined that the number of people
with learning difficulties living into old age is increasing, but little is known
about how older people with learning difficulties view their changing needs, or
how services and others respond to their increasing age.

It
was found that the provision of services for such people was subject to wide
variation and a lack of clarity about who is responsible for providing the
services. In some cases there was no real impetus to resettle older people
with learning difficulties from long-stay institutions. Even where good
practice was found, information was rarely shared with other providers.
There was also a marked absence of respect for the future of older people with
learning difficulties in terms of expectations and their potential for greater
independence, as well as a lack of opportunity for them to develop networks with
others of similar ages or interests. Many of such older people - generally
over 65 years of age, would have preferred being cared for by contemporaries
with similar interests to themselves.

Learning
Difficulties cause very significant parental concern. They also trouble teachers
who are concerned for the welfare of their students.The
importance of correcting the problem is so great that there has been a proliferation of
diagnostic and remedial treatment procedures.

These
are invariably anecdotal, based on shaky hypotheses with no true scientific
evidence of validity or efficacy.They are
widely advertised and promoted.Hence
teachers and parents become confused.They
will pursue any avenue to assist their children and are frequently persuaded to
spend large sums of money on useless "Visual training, spectacles or eye
exercises."

Practitioners
who stand to gain much from their implementation promote these therapies to
preschools and primary schools.

Parents
throughout the country are being pressured and coerced by schools to give
psychiatric drugs to their children. Teachers, school psychologists, and
administrators commonly make dire threats about their inability to teach
children without medicating them. They sometimes suggest that only
medication can stave off a bleak future of delinquency and occupational failure.
They even call child protective services to investigate parents for child
neglect and they sometimes testify against parents in court. Often the
schools recommend particular physicians who favor the use of stimulant drugs to
control behavior. These stimulant drugs include methylphenidate (Ritalin,
Concerta, and Metadate) or forms of amphetamine (Dexedrine and Adderall).

The
Department of Health have commissioned BMRB Social Research to conduct a major
survey of people with learning difficulties in England. Fieldwork for the survey
will be completed in October 2004 and a report on the findings will be published
in July 2005. The aims of the survey are:

-
to establish from people with learning difficulties themselves what their whole
lives are like including where they live and with whom, what they do during the
day, and what their needs, wants and aspirations are.

-
to describe current use of services by people with learning difficulties, as
well as their views on the services, to help establish what are the gaps between
what is currently provided for people with learning difficulties and what they
would like.

"I
believe we should inform our children of the nature of their problems because
they must learn to survive with the problem for the rest of their lives. They
are the ones who have to develop statagies [sic] around their problems. If this
upsets teachers and schools then TOUGH. They should train their staff properly
to educate the 10% of their classes with learning difficulties. Why should
parents have to fight this problem on their own."

This is an
extract from a somewhat bizarre, but very touching, website devoted to a family
of mother, father and three children, all of whom have some form of learning
disability. It is written with humour and intelligence . . . and an
admixture of dyslexic errors. Here is the link to the page from which it
was taken http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dolfrog/wein.htm
and a link to the Home Site is given below.

A pretty
exhaustive list of internet resources describing the dangers of the use of drugs
for children with special needs. The link is from the Dr Breggin website
which is linked to the quotation given earlier on this page.

A quirky but
very interesting site that (in the words of its presenters) "has been
designed to provide links for disabilities in general . . . and useful links to
agencies who can assist those seeking adequate provision of special education
needs in the UK education system. See also link to the Dolfrog quotation
above.